LeoVegas has pulled back the curtain on Blue Guru Games, the group’s game studio which aims to deploy its first titles during the latter stages of this year.

The move comes as part of a wider strategy to cost effectively control a larger share of the gaming industry’s value chain, with exclusive games to be developed for LeoVegas itself as well as across the wider igaming ecosystem. The ambition is to produce at least 20 games in the coming 24 months.

LeoVegas Mobile Gaming Group has, through its LeoVentures investment unit, started the Blue Guru Games studio, which has LeoVegas’ share of ownership at 85 per cent. 

From the start the company will have a team with more than 20 years of experience in game development, and will draw upon all of the experience and knowledge of LeoVegas. 

In addition to Blue Guru Games, LeoVentures has invested in, among other companies, CasinoGrounds, Pixel.bet and SharedPlay. LeoVegas also recently acquired the sports betting company Expekt

“For a long time we have created exclusive games with the help of external providers, but now the time is right to take the step to do game development entirely on our own,” commented Gustaf Hagman, group CEO of LeoVegas

“Drawing from our data and casino knowledge we will be able to drive innovation and create games that our customers truly enjoy. These may be everything from niche, local games for individual markets to broad international games. 

“In addition, we will create games and unique characters that can be used in our marketing, which will build stronger loyalty to our brands. Having great flexibility in producing games is a competitive advantage, and it will also give us a new revenue stream over time.”

Last week, LeoVegas completed the migration of the Royal Panda brand to the group’s technical platform, which it said will lead to additional economies of scale and other benefits for the company.

This completion means that all of the firm’s wholly owned brands are now run on the joint-group platform, an occasion which Gustaf Hagman, group CEO, lauded as “a milestone in the company’s history”.